October 2010

Welcome to the October 2010 Update Notes Page. What are Update Notes you ask? Every time we update Wizard101, we like to let our players know what changes have been made and what new additions have been given to the game. Update Notes explain those changes and updates.

This month brings the much anticipated world of Celestia, an increased level cap to 60, three new secondary schools to train and many other enhancements to your magic!

Celestia Opens!

Journey to Celestia!

Merle has determined that Celestia is safe for his strongest Wizard students!

New quests, new badges, new reagents, new creatures, new friends and new foes, new mounts, new pets, new spells and many new adventures await!

Players who have reached level 48* and completed the Dragonspyre quest "The Final Countdown" should speak to Merle Ambrose for more information about Celestia.

*this requirement was dropped to level 44 in February of 2014

Level Cap Increase & New School Spells

More Spells and More Levels

Wizard101 has added 10 more levels!
Level 50 players will see the return of their experience bar. Level 50 players can once again earn new experience from quests and duels.

With this level cap increase, come new Rank 8 Spells! These spells are available at level 58, but only through a quest from your Professor, so watch for those ToolTip messages! The rest of the new spells you'll have to discover on your adventures!

You will not receive experience from prior quests and duels that you completed when you were level 50.

New Schools of Magic - Sun Magic

New Schools of Magic

Celestia will introduce 3 new schools of magic to Wizard101. These schools of magic are Sun, Moon, and Star. The Sun, Moon, and Star schools are designed to work as supplementary schools to your existing.Sun Magic (Enchantments)

The focus of the Sun School is primarily on enchantments. Enchantments from the Sun School operate in the same manner as all other enchantments in the game. At the basic level they just give boosts to accuracy and damage but at higher levels they will include mutates and larger bonuses. One of the differences between Sun School enchantments and other in-game enchantments is that cards enchanted with Sun School cards disappear after combat is resolved. Sun School cards must be used on damage cards, and cannot be used on Rank 0 spells.

Mutate SpellsMutation spells are a big part of Sun Magic, such as this Mutate Kraken into Inferno Kraken!

Cloak Spell
Cloak has returned in a big way! Some of you may recall finding a Cloak Treasure card in the past, and we've brought this dynamic back to the game, with enhancements!
A Cloak enchantment card may be used on spell cards that are flagged as charms or wards and it disguises the spell to opponents, a very valuable Player vs Player tool!

Look for these and other new Sun Magic Enchantment spells in Celestia.

New Schools of Magic - Moon Magic

Moon Magic (Polymorph)

The moon school is focused on polymorphing. Polymorph is a new way to play Wizard101 where players can use a spell card to transform the caster into another being and swap out their spell deck! You will not only LOOK like a creature, but you will also gain a whole new set of statistics for accuracy, health, pip chance, and more...allowing you to play different roles when grouping with friends. If a duel contains two Life Wizards on one side, one can cast the Draconian polymorph that will boost their damage. If a duel contains two Storm Wizards, one could cast the Gobbler polymorph to change their abilities to suit the duel and the partners in that duel.

Polymorphs happen by using a spell card and only last for a limited time (in rounds).

A Polymorphed player temporarily changes their character's Appearance. Players will take on the appearance of the Polymorph spell they cast.

A Polymorphed player temporarily changes their character's Stats. A Polymorph will affect a players
Max Health ( Current Health is proportionally converted ), Power Pip Chance, School of Focus, Accuracy, Resistance to Damage, Vulnerabilities and Damage.

A Polymorphed player temporarily changes their character's spell Deck The new spell deck completely replaces the spell deck that the player was using previously

A Polymorphed player reverts back to their normal selves when the polymorph time has expired.

New Schools of Magic - Star Magic

Star School (Auras)

The star school will be focused around a new type of magic called Auras. Auras are magical energy that surround and protect or strengthen the Wizard. Auras are unique and different from other magic in that they can't be stacked, broken, or dispelled but they will disappear over time. Auras can boost accuracy, damage, resistance, or even convert incoming spells to pips for you.

Auras are cast as normal spells and can only have a target of "Self".
Auras have a timer on them that is counted in rounds. After this timer is complete the aura is removed.
Auras cannot be stacked with other Auras and Casting a subsequent Aura spell will replace the previous one.

Effects of Auras
Auras have a few different special effect types that will be specific to them such as Stun Resistance,
Pip Conversion, Accuracy Boost, Resistance Boost and Damage Boost.

Specific Auras
Aura of Fortification ( Blue ) - This grants the player 15% resistance to all attacks.
Aura of Amplification ( Red ) - The grants the player a 15% bonus to outgoing damage.
Aura of Precision ( Green ) - This grants the player a 10% bonus to accuracy.
Aura of Conviction ( Yellow ) - This grants the player 90% resistance to stuns and 20% block chance.
Aura of Empowerment ( Purple ) - This grants the player an extra pip every time a rank 4 or higher spell is used on him / her.Aura of Vengeance ( Orange ) - This grants the player a 20% boost to their critical hit chance.

Critical and Block Statistics

Critical and Block Statistics

The Critical and Block system is an addition to the existing dueling system that allows players to perform Critical Hits on opponents and avoid incoming Critical Hits. This will give players new strategies and defenses in combat and new ways to further build up their Wizard!

You'll notice your character sheet has changed a little. Press C to see a panel like this one.

The two new stats being added to the game are called Critical Hit Rating and Block RatingCritical Hit Rating increase the player's chance of getting a critical hit. Block Rating increases the player's chance of avoiding incoming critical hits.
Players will gain Critical Hit and Block bonuses from equipment.

The chance for a critical hit or a block is calculated AFTER fizzle and accuracy. When a spell fizzles no calculation for critical hit or block is made.
Charms, Enchantments, Wards, Manipulations and Globals are not subject to the Block / Critical system. Heals cannot be Blocked, but they can Critical!

You will also notice with these Critical and Block Statistics, that the Combat Rating System displays as a numeric value and not a percentage. Equipment will have values of "+14 Block Rating" as opposed to the "+1% Block" style of statistic you are accustomed to seeing.

Minion Updates

Minion Updates

We've all suffered with a minion at our side, wondering if that pixie is ever going to heal anyone other than herself, or wondering if the storm minion is going to do anything at all, but those days are past us.
Many of the minions have been updated, and here's a quick breakdown.Balance

Mander Minion - unchanged

Spectral Minion - will now randomly cast the exact same minions as fire, ice and storm respectively

Storm

Water Elementals have been given the ability to Heal, cast shields and even Storm Traps!

Ice

Ice Guardians will be dishing out some more damage spells such as Ice Bats and Snow Shark

Fire

Fire minions will now concentrate on lowering the accuracy of your opponents while doing minor amounts of damage.

Myth

Golem Minion - unchanged

Troll Minion - added some healing spells

Cyclops Minion - he's beefed up with some more health and a few more damage spells

Minotaur Minion - expect him to be stronger and better at drawing attention and taking damage

Life

Sprites will be less self centered and adjust to heal team-mates more reliably.

Death

The Death minions were updated a while back and no new changes have been made.

Reagent Updates

Reagent Updates

Buy & Sell in Bulk
Say goodbye to the woe of buying and selling individual reagents. Reagents can now be purchased and sold in bulk at the Bazaar and Reagent Vendors!
Reagents in the Shared BankHurray! Reagents can now be placed in your Shared Bank! These Reagents are under the 'Cards' tab. Reagents do take up space in your Shared Bank and have their own limit of 999 of each type.

Pet Updates

Pet Talent Display IssuesPet talents were displaying incorrectly. Please note this was only a display error!

Talents that were Epic were showing up as Common. They will now show up as Epic.
Talents that were Ultra Rare were showing up as Epic. They will now show up as Ultra Rare.
Talents that were Rare were showing up as Ultra Rare. They will now show up as Rare.
Talents that were Uncommon were showing up as Rare. They will now show up as Uncommon.
Talents that were Common were showing up as Uncommon. They will now show up as Common.

This change will not affect pedigree scores (overall or actual), no pet hatching costs, or anything else. Just the display name on the pet info screen before you get the actual talent, and the number of dots.

Changes to Wild Bolt Spell

Changes to Wild Bolt SpellWe've listened to our community, done internal balance testing and had exhaustive discussions about the spell Wild Bolt, and have change the Wild Bolt spell based on this research.

Wild Bolt will now have 70% accuracy and do 10, 100, or 1000 damage.

We will continue to monitor how this impacts the balance of the game, as well as listen to all players feedback.

Deck Updates

Deck UpdatesMany players seem to end up selling their last deck, or unequipping their deck and finding themselves in a duel with only their wand to support them.

To prevent this from occurring players are no longer able to sell the last deck in their backpack. This will ensure that all players always have at least one deck.

Should, for some reason, you manage to unequip that deck, you will receive a warning message when you close your spellbook.

You are still responsible for putting spells in your decks!

Even after all that, if you manage to enter a duel with only your wand spells, you have the option to FLEE and then equip and build your deck in safety.

Inventory Updates

Reagents and Snacks in the Shared BankHurray! Pet Snacks and Reagents can now be placed in your Shared Bank! These Pet Snacks and Reagents are under the 'Cards' tab. Reagents do take up space in your Shared Bank and have their own limit of 999 of each type.
Inventory Amounts
Players can more easily see how many items are in their backpack and bank, so you'll know when you're getting full and have to take a trip to the Bazaar!
Trash ConfirmationTrash button confirmation must now be clicked. You must click YES to confirm you actually want to trash an item that is in your inventory. This should help you avoid accidentally trashing the wrong item.

Shopping Updates

Shopping UpdatesWe've listened to our players and added a few much asked for updates to how players shop.

As mentioned above, Reagents can now be bought and sold in bulk at the Bazaar, and this applies to Pet Snacks as well!

The Bazaar limit for Reagents has been raised to 500 per type.

Players can no longer preview the contents of eggs in the Dye Shop.

The maximum amount of gold that a character can have has been increased to 200 000.

There is now a confirmation window to ensure you really want to sell a Crowns item.

The order of Recipes in the Recipe Shops are now sorted by Crafter Level and then by price.

Details, details, details...

Below are some small but important details to note about changes made in this update.

Second Chance chests will now give players an item even if their backpack is full, but note that item will go into the BANK.

Players who have earned the badges Hero of Marleybone and Dragonspyre Master should once again be able to display them.

Wooden Chests will begin appearing in Grizzleheim.

Some single Pet Hatching sigils have been added to the Hatchery for those who want to hatch two of their own pets, without a partner.

Damage over Time spells will now take equipment damage bonus into account for each time the spell does damage.

Raven Fortress Gates should no longer block your way during the Blood Brother quest.

Players will no longer need to complete a series of side quests to enter the Dojo during the level 48 Life School Quest 'Summer is Coming'.

Players can no longer use /r to speak to players not on your friends list.

Life Henchmen will now heal injured players.

Players will now receive exit warnings when leaving dungeons by the front door.

Silver Chests no longer have the sigil in front.

If you're under level 12 when you speak to Mr Lincoln, he will encourage you to return when you're level 12 if you want to exchange your secondary spell cards for the Training Points you spent on them.

Kenedy the Klaw has discarded his fire deck in favor of the Myth Deck he should have been using all along.

Block PvP Enemy Chat will be set to 'Yes' for all new players.

Deleted players no longer show up in Friends lists.

Elixirs can no longer be cancelled while in combat.

Quest Helper is now available in Tomb of the Beguiler.

Watch your language. Several chat exploits have been eliminated and failure to abide by the Terms of Use regarding chat can result in a permanent ban from Wizard101.

Zeke's old sign in Olde Town has been removed.

Players should no longer lose their Gift button and tutorial tips when they switch to a lower resolution.

Cyrus found only a handful of typos this time around, and they have been corrected.